Hungry for Power
by Hollyflash
Summary: This is a story of truth, this is a story of lies, this is a story of betrayal, this is a story of trust. This is a story of what happens when a cat grows hungry for power.


I did a one-shot that takes place before this, and it got two reviews in a day.

_A day._

That's a record for me.

So, replies to all those reviews I got on my last one are at the bottom.

Anyway, now that that's taken care of, I'd just like to apologize for this taking so long. The only one of these viewpoints that was even remotely easy was Amberpelt's. But that's no reason to change the meaning of soon to two months…

/Proceeds to bang head against pointless wall/

Okay, just a random fact about the timeline now; this takes place a while before Mapleshade was born, but after SkyClan has been all but forgotten.

Now, prepare for cat overload. It's time for the allegiances of doom, death, destruction, and terror!

Nah, just kidding. But really, here are some of the

Allegiances

ThunderClan:

**Leader-**

**Dogstar: **Large and stocky dark brown tom with black patches, amber eyes.

**Deputy-**

**Iceflake: **Almost pure white long-furred she-cat with amber eyes and faint gray stripes.

**Medicine Cat-**

**Mossflame: **Tortoiseshell she-cat with dark green eyes and white paws.

**Warriors-**

**Bearclaw:** Huge gray tabby tom with black patches and blue eyes.

**Thistlefur- **Tan and ginger tom with spiky fur.

Apprentice, Wavepaw.

**Leopardfang- **Ginger and black spotted tom with gray eyes.

**Littlefern:** Brown and white she-cat with brown eyes.

**Roseleaf: **Ginger she-cat with cream paws, tail tip, and belly.

Apprentice, Skypaw.

**Petaltail: **Ginger she-cat with golden stripes and brown eyes.

Apprentice, Robinpaw.

**Lilytail: **Golden tabby she-cat with brown paws and amber eyes.

**Hawkwing: **Light brown tom with gray paws and muzzle, amber eyes.

Apprentice, Foxpaw.

**Finchtail: **Black and dark gray tom with a pale gray tail.

Apprentices, Loudpaw.

**Birdsong: **Light brown and white tabby she-cat.

**Lightningblaze: **Pale ginger tom with darker ginger stripes.

**Apprentices-**

**Foxpaw:** Dark gray tom with lighter gray underbelly, paws, muzzle, tail-tip, and stripes.

**Wavepaw: **Blue-gray tom with blue eyes.

**Robinpaw: **Light brown she-cat with darker brown stripes and a red underbelly.

**Loudpaw: **Yellow and black she-cat with gray eyes.

**Skypaw: **White, gray, and black patched she-cat, blue eyes.

**Queens-**

**Silversong:** Sleek silver tabby with gray eyes, Hawkwing's mate. Mother to Graykit(White and dark gray patched tom with gray eyes) and Pebblekit(Golden tabby she-cat with gray eyes.).

**Berrytail: **Fluffy cream tabby with green eyes, Dogstar's mate. Mother to Sparrowkit(Pale gray she-cat with white paws and muzzle), Badgerkit(White tom with black patches and green eyes), and Amberkit(Amber tabby she-cat with one white paw and blue-green eyes).

**Elders-**

**Smokespot:** Gray tom with black paws, tail, and ears.

**Nightdapple:** Black she-cat with amber eyes.

**Dawnpetal:** Pale ginger and gray she-cat.

**Duskcloud: **Black, ginger, and gray tom.

/Dies from presumed she-cat overload/

**Disclaimer: **I'm not Erin Hunter, and therefor don't own Warriors!

* * *

Prologue

A lone tom sat in a forest of darkness, his golden fur shining an eerie dark yellow. Most cats, he knew, would be cowering in the sheer terror of this place. However, this tom found it comforting. Whether that was because he had spent seasons of his after life here or because of the time before that, he couldn't tell. But one thing was for sure: he deserved to be in this forest. He had stolen, watched more than one cat die at the claws of his mate, and fought to make life miserable for his birth clan. Of course, they were weak, if that counted as a valuable reason.

A rustle in the undergrowth distracted the tom, and he unsheathed his claws. He allowed few to interrupt his thoughts, and a low growl rumbled in his throat as he spun around.

"Jumpy today, aren't we?" A voice purred, and the tom sighed as his claws retracted instinctively at the sight of a familiar fuzzy pelt.

"Ghostsoul, don't do that!" He hissed, lashing his tail in mock anger. "I almost slashed you!"

Ghostsoul rolled her amber eyes. "Yeah Lionfang, like that would happen." She flicked her tail-tip. "Dawnpetal had her kits, one of them looks like me… But she's weak." Ghostsoul licked a paw daintily. To anyone who didn't know her, Ghostsoul appeared to be a sweet, innocent, fuzzy, gray-striped white she-cat who wouldn't hurt a fly. Of course, that description wasn't too close to her personality. If she was being sweet or innocent, she was trying to con you. Lionfang had known his mate long enough to figure that out, and personally witness how cold she could be.

Pain on his ear brought Lionfang back to reality, and he caught sight of Ghostsoul licking bits of crimson from her claws. "Do I have your attention now?" She asked, and without waiting for an answer, started speaking again. "I know I could make her strong, if Nightclaw would only approve my plan." She spat the name _Nightclaw_ with almost unbearable hate. She had killed the tom once to avenge her mother, and tried to do the same when she had arrived in the forest. Needless to say, it was a miracle the both of them were still alive.

"We both know the limited chances of it working… But I'll speak to him." Lionfang promised. He wasn't fond of the self-proclaimed 'leader' of this dark forest, but Nightclaw was the strongest 'warrior' there. Even Ghostsoul hardly dared to oppose him, knowing of the chance she could lose. Lionfang knew Ghostsoul still had plans to take her revenge on their birth clan, and making the kit strong was one of them.

"Thank you, Lionfang," Ghostsoul mewed, running her tongue over Lionfang's ear. "But make sure to ask him soon, StarClan could come for the kit any day." She padded away, and Lionfang gave a determined nod. _If I'm going to ask Nightclaw, I might as well do it now._ Finding the sinister tom would be the easy part- he almost always stayed by the closest thing to water they had- convincing him was a whole different manner. But for some reason, Nightclaw didn't despise him. _That's why Ghostsoul asked me to do this. I have a much greater chance of convincing him. If he doesn't kill me first…_

"Nightclaw," Lionfang called out as the dark tom came into sight.

"Who's asking?" He hissed in response, spinning to face Lionfang. "Oh, it's you. What do you want?"

Lionfang blinked slowly, "Nightclaw, about Ghostsoul's plan…"

"I already told the two of you that will never happen!" The dark tom spat. "Walk alongside a life? What a joke!"

"Nightclaw, I know it's rather confound, but it will work!" Lionfang was fighting to keep his voice calm. Nightclaw may be a tyrant who would rather kill you then greet you, but Lionfang knew it was better to stay on his minuscule good side. Better for him and Ghostsoul. Better for their plan. "There is a kit who would work quite well for the part currently in Thunderclan. All we need to do is…"

"Fine, I'll let you go ahead with your little plan, just don't talk about it!" Nightclaw hissed, lashing his tail. "The stars are near."

Lionfang blinked in confusion, and silently questioned the dark tom's sanity. _This forest is called the place of no stars for a reason._ "Thank you, Nightclaw, Ghostsoul and I will prepare it imminently." He padded away, and as soon as he was sure the dark tom couldn't hear him, he let out a yowl of triumph.

"So it went well, I assume?" Ghostsoul called, springing out from the underbrush. Lionfang took a step towards her, and touched his nose to her ear.

"Yes, we're aloud to! He won't oppose us," Lionfang had to raise his voice over the sound of Ghostsoul's purr, "And we can use Dawnpetal's kit!"

Ghostsoul flicked her tail tip over Lionfang's ear. "Icekit. We can use Icekit." She took a step back. "I'll get everything ready; Thunderclan won't know what hit them!"

Lionfang smirked, "I'll take care of things up here, and you make sure Thunderclan suffers!"

Ghostsoul's gaze darkened, "Deal." She started to pad away, but shot back over her shoulder, "See you soon, Lionfang."

Lionfang nodded, "See you soon, _Icekit._"

His mate raced away, though the sound of her footsteps seemed to last longer than it should have. Lionfang looked around in confusion, but felt his eyes grow wide as he recognised a scent; a scent that shouldn't be in this forest.

_It must've been what Nightclaw meant when he said that the stars were near. A spy, Ghostsoul's sister nonetheless. _

Though he hid it well, Lionfang could feel panic rising up inside him. _How much did she see?_

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Are you happy?" A starry white she-cat hissed to the group of gathered starry cats in front of her. "If you had just listened to me when I told you what I'd saw, and actually did something, we wouldn't be in this mess! Ghostsoul has taken over the spot of deputy. Not even the kits are safe with her on the loose!"

A starry brown and white tabby sighed, "Technically, Frostleap, it's Iceflake who has become deputy…"

"Iceflake!" Frostleap spat, "Creamtail, you know as well as I do that she's nothing but a new Ghostsoul!"

"Please, don't fight," A starry amber she-cat pleaded. "There has got to be an easy way to solve this! Why don't we just tell Mossflame?"

Frostleap rolled her eyes. "We already tried that, Amberpelt. If you recall, it didn't work."

"Well, yelling at each other won't help," Amberpelt shook her head. "There has got to be something else we can do."

"Like what?" A starry pale gray and white tom questioned. "We have done nearly everything possible to stop her, but nothing seems to work."

The group was silent for a few long moments. "We could fight fire with fire." Amberpelt spoke up. "Ghostsoul's 'walking alongside' Iceflake's life. One of us could do the same with another cat."

The starry tom blinked in approval. "I guess that could work, if there was a kit suitable…"

"Sorry to interrupt your meeting Whitestar," A voice called and as a golden and orange she-cat slid her way into the gathered group. "But I think I have an answer to your problems."

The starry tom glared at the newcomer. "Dapplestar, what was done to you and Jayflight will _never_ happen again."

The newcomer rolled her eyes. "I don't mean like that!" She motioned to a pool that was a few tail-lengths away. "Look there and you'll see a perfect candidate." Amberpelt and Frostleap exchanged a wary glance before padding over to the pool, where they promptly jumped back in surprise.

"She looks almost completely like me!" Amberpelt gasped, and the newcomer, Dapplestar, gave an apprehensive nod.

"Yes, yes, and she has close to the same name too." Amberpelt's eyes grew wide as Dapplestar said this. "And she has a fairly close personality to yours, although she does have more fighting skill…"

"Okay, I'll do it." Amberpelt spoke up, and Creamtail gave an approving nod.

"Frostleap and I will look after things back here." She mewed, and Dapplestar let out a delighted trill.

"Great! I'll go find Jayflight! She'll want to take part in this!" The orange and gold she-cat raced away, Frostleap and Creamtail following swiftly behind. Whitestar started to do the same, but stopped to call back something to Amberpelt.

"Amberpelt, if you fail… You know what will happen."

Amberpelt fluffed out her fur. "I won't fail!"

Whitestar shook his head. "You better not."

Amberpelt watched him leave, her fur still bristling. After a few long moments, she finally let it lie flat again. "I won't fail," She whispered. "I won't fail."

_I won't fail…_

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Mossflame!" A cream tabby she-cat was pleading to another she-cat, a tortoiseshell. "Please, you're the Medicine cat! You have to save my kit!" Her eyes were wide with fear. "Please!"

The tortoiseshell shook her head, and looked somberly down at the limp body of an amber colored kit that lay on a mossy nest. "There is nothing I can do, Berrytail. She is already on her way to StarClan."

"No!" The cream tabby wailed, and nudged the kit. "Amberkit… Please wake up…"

Mossflame placed her tail gently on Berrytail's shoulders in an attempt to comfort her, but it only caused the distraught queen wail louder. "She was so young! Why did Greencough have to take her life? Why!"

Mossflame shook her head. "StarClan will look after her now."

Berrytail straightened up, her eyes clouded. "I-I better go check on the other two… And tell Dogstar…" Her voice was thick with grief and her tail was dragging through the dirt as she padded away, and Mossflame lowered her head. She had lost cats before, but never one this young. Amberkit wasn't even a moon old, for StarClan's sake! She had her whole life ahead of her!

Mossflame shook her head; she shouldn't be concerned about things like that. There was no going back now, Amberkit wasn't coming back. She had to look after her other patients. Smokespot wasn't doing to good, maybe she should check on him. Yes, that would be a good idea, and it would get her mind off of Amberkit...

Mossflame cut off her thoughts at the sound of someone dragging their paws behind her. _It must be another sick cat, or perhaps Dogstar has come to say goodbye._ Mossflame turned to see what it truly was, and felt amazement hit her so forcefully she staggered.

It was _Amberkit._

The little amber tabby didn't look as bad as she had a moment ago, though her green eyes seemed a little strange. She still had a tired look, and her eyes were slightly cloudy. Though, her tail was swishing back and forth as if saying 'this is really me'.

"Mossflame," Amberkit mew was tired, as if she had just ran to the Highstones and back. "Where'd Berrytail go? I thought she was right beside me. These starry cats told me to tell her I was all right, but I dunno where she is…"

Mossflame took a step towards the small kit. "Amberkit… Is that really you?" She breathed in the kit's scent. It smelled like Amberkit, and though she didn't have the scent of death there still was a faint scent of Greencough. Is it possible that she wasn't really gone? Could the young kit have somehow been sent back by StarClan to live out her life?

But why? Why would StarClan send a cat back after they had died? As far as Mossflame knew, that had never been done.

And then Amberkit's eyes flashed blue and she spoke in a voice that wasn't her own, "We have our reasons for what we did; occasionally StarClan has to take destiny into our own paws."

* * *

That took way too long. Mossflame's and Lionfang's viewpoints were annoying. So, freaking, **annoying**!

/Reminded of Soul Eater for some reason/

And now for the replies to the reviews!

**Spottedpool**: This right here is me writing more. And it wasn't Yellowpaw's sister. It was Yellowpaw's friend's sister. ;)

**Pantherstar101**: That'll be explained in chapter 1. ;)

**Miss tangerineleaf**: That's kind of what I'm doing right here. ;)

… Wait a moment, why did all of those have smiley faces at the end?

Of course, reviews are nice, and I actually reply to them by pm now!

And since this worked on one of my other stories, I brought the review button a muzzle.

As in the case of the other story, I still have no clue how that works.


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